The photographers' thread

Beken of Cowes is a wonderful place to pass some time.
The work of Phil Makanna is stunning and I think would appeal to people here.
An observation : a large selection of what we appear to enjoy is ....B+W.

As it seems non motorsport is allowed here, I have recently discovered the work of Clark Little, a north shore surf photog with a difference. Search him and look at his shorebreak pics...really awesome. He has a gallery in Laguna Beach and his home state of Hawaii.

As it seems non motorsport is allowed here, I have recently discovered the work of Clark Little, a north shore surf photog with a difference. Search him and look at his shorebreak pics...really awesome. He has a gallery in Laguna Beach and his home state of Hawaii.

When I first got involved in this stupidity in a serious way my weapon of choice was a Nikon FM usually paired with a f4 Nikkor 200mm with HP5 and, if I was lucky, a roll of Fuji for colour prints. This combination served for many years through all that was thrown at it ( sometimes really thrown ) including soakings, being dropped , banged and generally abused.They never missed a beat - from Thruxton to Oulton, March to October year in year out. I now have a Nikon D300 and a selection of lens including the original f4 200mm but am so wary of all the gubbins inside that the weather forecast is closely checked before venturing out. I have no doubt that Nikon is sealed properly but I am scared to find out just in case...
On a slight tangent I heard on Radio 4 the other morning that 10yrs ago in London there were 280 professional darkrooms in London now there are only 8 .

When I first got involved in this stupidity in a serious way my weapon of choice was a Nikon FM usually paired with a f4 Nikkor 200mm with HP5 and, if I was lucky, a roll of Fuji for colour prints. This combination served for many years through all that was thrown at it ( sometimes really thrown ) including soakings, being dropped , banged and generally abused.They never missed a beat - from Thruxton to Oulton, March to October year in year out. I now have a Nikon D300 and a selection of lens including the original f4 200mm but am so wary of all the gubbins inside that the weather forecast is closely checked before venturing out. I have no doubt that Nikon is sealed properly but I am scared to find out just in case...On a slight tangent I heard on Radio 4 the other morning that 10yrs ago in London there were 280 professional darkrooms in London now there are only 8 .

I never had any problems at all with any of my film Nikons, 20+ over as many years, I still have three of them, but that's why professionals like them of course, though I did once drop my F4, which needed a new viewfinder top moulding, that camera and our D300s all have cast magnesium bodies of course. A year or so ago, someone dropped my almost new 12/24 f4 Nikkor. It landed end-on on a hard floor, pushing a filter right into the outer ring, breaking it quite badly, though everything still seemed to work OK. My friendly local Nikon/Canon repairer does a lot of sub-contact work for Nikon UK, he's there almost every week, so after fitting a new ring which cost £75 in all, he took it with him to check on their high-tech equipment, absolutely perfect, no internal damage at all, and it landed with quite a bang. He told me that in his experience Canons are rather easier to damage, though there isn't a lot in it, and he never has any trouble getting spares for either, which is one of the things you're paying for of course. Next time I see him, I'll ask about their weather resistance, though I suspect they are less vulnerable than we think, Nikon claim that they're well sealed and protected in that respect.

On that professional darkroom thing, it was on Radio 4's Front Row midweek, five minutes or so, worth catching while it's still there.

The only Nikon I have ever had is an 8800, 2005 vintage, last year I took it to Prescott and it got repeatedly soaked for some hours on the Saturday but I wiped it down after each shower and it kept working fine much to my delight and surprise, though I notice some of the screws have oxidised, which is probably not a good sign.

The only Nikon I have ever had is an 8800, 2005 vintage, last year I took it to Prescott and it got repeatedly soaked for some hours on the Saturday but I wiped it down after each shower and it kept working fine much to my delight and surprise, though I notice some of the screws have oxidised, which is probably not a good sign.

Capa indeed went in with the first wave on Omaha Beach. He was killed in Indochina in 1954 IIRC. It was long conjectured that another famous war photographer, this time from the Vietnam era, Larry Burrows, was the lab tech responible for ruining all but a few of Capa's Omaha Beach photos in his haste to develop the negatives. Burrows too would lose his life in Indochina.

I'll add a bit of Canadian content here: I'm a great admirer of the work of Edward Burtynsky. He does very large-scale landscapes with the monumentality of Ansel Adams, but his work is given an uneasy edginess by the fact that his subjects tend to be landscapes whose 'beauty' is the result of highly destructive human activity. His 'Tailings' set is especially astounding (although it really needs to be seen in person).

............... Next time I see him, I'll ask about their weather resistance, though I suspect they are less vulnerable than we think, Nikon claim that they're well sealed and protected in that respect.

I would be extremely obliged if you could get an expert opinion on the water-resistance of the Nikon F (and the non-AI lenses); I have just acquired some of this kit, which I could never afford when it was current. I would hate to ruin any of these iconic tools. Nikon assure me that my D700 is "weather-proof", I've taken their word for it so far without problems, although I wonder about water getting into the lenses via the radial joints. I gave it a good soaking today but the "F" stayed in the bag.

I would be extremely obliged if you could get an expert opinion on the water-resistance of the Nikon F (and the non-AI lenses); I have just acquired some of this kit, which I could never afford when it was current. I would hate to ruin any of these iconic tools. Nikon assure me that my D700 is "weather-proof", I've taken their word for it so far without problems, although I wonder about water getting into the lenses via the radial joints. I gave it a good soaking today but the "F" stayed in the bag.

I'll phone my tame expert next week to ask his opinion, I think he repairs all the older non-digital stuff on Nikon UK's behalf, so he should know. I never had an F, but no problems with my F2 or F3s, and my F4 and AF lenses were rained on several times with no ill-effects, can't remember having any trouble with manual focus lenses either, or indeed AF ones.

I think Arttidesco might be referring to a Nikon F801, not one of my favourites though I had four of them (two were stolen), but wasn't this called the F8008 in the US and some other places?

Lost files! Today, for the first time, in ten years, I made a complete hash of things, digitally speaking. Shot 171 images, downloaded via Photoshop Elements 8 Organiser, however I gave them a filename that was just that bit too long to be able to see the file number on the editing menu screen. Of course, when I checked that the files were all saved I deleted them from the card.
I thought that if I just copied all the files back to the card I could then remove the files from PSE8 and start again, downloading from the card and re-naming. Wrong.

It appeared to download 171 files but when I looked at them they were all plain grey rectangles. Tried every which way to copy/save and extract images but... nothing......

Fortunately the shots were just of a dreary, yet somehow arty-farty, walk around town shooting rain, puddles, reflections and general urban decay with my 18-35mm wide zoom.

Two learning points: keep your file titles snappy and keep your files until you are darn-tootin' that you have saved exactly what you shot.

At the risk of derailing this further from motorsports photogs, I've always liked the work of O. Winston Link. His night time rail photography in particular is very striking, beautiful work.

Good grief - some of those images are absolutely stunning The shot of the Drive-In movie with the train passing by in the night is just incredibly evocative. Thanks very much for the link, I may be gone for some time!

I would be extremely obliged if you could get an expert opinion on the water-resistance of the Nikon F (and the non-AI lenses); I have just acquired some of this kit, which I could never afford when it was current. I would hate to ruin any of these iconic tools.

My recollection (an imperfect tool if ever there was one) is that the F4 was the first Nikon body that was claimed to have rigorous enough seals, o-rings etc. to be used in virtually all weather (apart from the Nikonos, obviously).

Good grief - some of those images are absolutely stunning The shot of the Drive-In movie with the train passing by in the night is just incredibly evocative. Thanks very much for the link, I may be gone for some time!

Good, innit? For me the jet on the screen makes it.

If I could recommend two of his books (which may still be available from Amazon, etc): Steel, Steam and Stars and The Last Steam Railroad in America.

Not long before he died a documentary was made about his attempt to re-create one of the night shots, using his original equipment and the last-remaining of those flash bulbs in the world. His lighting-rig would fill a couple of large trucks. Of course it all went wrong, due to some faulty connections in the aged equipment.

Anyone aware if this film being available? I really would like to see it again.

My recollection (an imperfect tool if ever there was one) is that the F4 was the first Nikon body that was claimed to have rigorous enough seals, o-rings etc. to be used in virtually all weather (apart from the Nikonos, obviously).

My recollection (an imperfect tool if ever there was one) is that the F4 was the first Nikon body that was claimed to have rigorous enough seals, o-rings etc. to be used in virtually all weather (apart from the Nikonos, obviously).

I've been a pro user of Nikons for 24 years, F3, F4, F100, and of late, a D700. The D700 was a loaner from Nikon, and admittedly (as I'm a wilderness shooter for a living) I had to KNOW it was waterproof. I quite intentionally shot in the rain for hours with it, on a recent Pacific NW trip, and it and I were totally soaked (and I mean TOTALLY) by three separate rogue waves which I needed "close-up" photo stock of. Close-up indeed.

I can add that all my Nikons have NEVER had any issues arising from being wet. Often on extended backpacking trips, regularly well above timberline, my cameras get quite wet — even my 4x5. Not the wisest perhaps, but a part of wilderness work that's unavoidable. I live to get rare images that might pay thousands someday, so risking a few hundred in damages means nothing in my case.

I have yet to have any water-related failures with any of my Nikons, though it helps to carry a small dish cloth to keep the puddles off, and a cotton hankie after that.

To those having dampness issues-I just use a plastic shopping bag (medium sized, typically the ones we'd get at a grocery store) with a hole cut in the bottom to keep my camera relatively dry-I use a rubber band to hold it around the end of the lens barrel. It seems to work pretty well for moderate downpours, although I wouldn't trust it in a real bad storm. I only do this if I know I'll be outside for a while with no shelter, and no jacket to tuck the camera into in between shots.

I'm really more worried about cold this time of year-I spent a good amount of time outside last weekend when it was, at best, 20F outside. I kept my camera tucked inside my coat when not shooting but it still seemed quite cold once I got back in the car.

Good grief - some of those images are absolutely stunning The shot of the Drive-In movie with the train passing by in the night is just incredibly evocative. Thanks very much for the link, I may be gone for some time!

I know, right? I'd love to try large scale flash photography (not necessarily shooting trains, though), but simply don't have the financial wherewithal to get such a complicated lighting rig set up. I had a go last summer, but substituted my car headlights for a big flash unit:Cadillac Noir by William 74, on Flickr

If I could recommend two of his books (which may still be available from Amazon, etc): Steel, Steam and Stars and The Last Steam Railroad in America.

Not long before he died a documentary was made about his attempt to re-create one of the night shots, using his original equipment and the last-remaining of those flash bulbs in the world. His lighting-rig would fill a couple of large trucks. Of course it all went wrong, due to some faulty connections in the aged equipment.

Anyone aware if this film being available? I really would like to see it again.

Elansprint ,

the Winston Museum link leads to their Museum's shop: there is a DVD of a 1990 film (52 min) on the ''Trains that passed in Night'' --not sure you meant this??

I'm really more worried about cold this time of year-I spent a good amount of time outside last weekend when it was, at best, 20F outside. I kept my camera tucked inside my coat when not shooting but it still seemed quite cold once I got back in the car.

Nikon used to sell remote battery kits for several of their bodies, depending on battery size and connections. With a reasonable cable length, you could keep the battery warm next to your body, and have a functioning meter and/or shutter. Now, with cameras even more battery-dependent, this seems even more appropriate, but they don't seem to make remote kits. I may be wrong...

I'd love to try large scale flash photography (not necessarily shooting trains, though), but simply don't have the financial wherewithal to get such a complicated lighting rig set up. I had a go last summer, but substituted my car headlights for a big flash unit:

I know those big bulbs pushed out a lot of light, more than a standard 'big' speedlight, but I think a similar set-up could be achieved with several units strategically positioned. For some shots I used three Nikon SBs mounted on one camera, cabled together. Not a set-up that you wanted to hold at eye level for long, especially at the top of a ladder, back to the ladder, hanging on by your heels, several sets of muscles starting to tremble...

I know those big bulbs pushed out a lot of light, more than a standard 'big' speedlight, but I think a similar set-up could be achieved with several units strategically positioned. For some shots I used three Nikon SBs mounted on one camera, cabled together.

Yeah, I tried it with a couple of borrowed units near the car, but they just didn't put out enough light. And frankly I felt it was easier to work with lights that were on continuously, rather than a flash. Bear in mind that this was all experimentation, and that I almost always work with available light only, and rarely if ever use supplemental lighting or flashes.

Nothing like a bit of experimentation! My thought was that non-digital-specific guns are probably - I haven't checked - very cheap second-hand, and a bunch of them might do the job. I prefer available light photography, but had to invest in several flash units for work. How about a generator and several halogen floods, as used in the building trade? They are cheap too.

I don't often pull the trigger after dark, but have done a little exploring with artificial light, as well. One of the techniques is called "painting with light", I believe, and involves multiple flashes during a single long, low-ISO/high f-stop exposure, or a single light source "sprayed" over the target area under similar conditions. Some examples have the kind of appearance you might be looking for.

The only trouble with the halogen "trade" lighting is the colour temperature is going to be really warm and possibly inconsistent (no Auto White Balance will compensate if you have daylight mixed in). If you're really keen you can hire specific location (works off a battery pack) studio lighting flash kits like Balcar or Profoto, which usually have 2 or 3 heads putting out very good power for what they are. I have used these on a number of location jobs (shooting a Hummer for Jim Beam in QLD was the last one) and they work very well.
Color temp is daylight, you can alter the power of each head individually and you know they will be consistent in power and color every flash.
Not cheap, but not outrageous in photographic gear pricing.

Nothing like a bit of experimentation! My thought was that non-digital-specific guns are probably - I haven't checked - very cheap second-hand, and a bunch of them might do the job. I prefer available light photography, but had to invest in several flash units for work. How about a generator and several halogen floods, as used in the building trade? They are cheap too.

I think these were pretty old flashes-I borrowed them from a friend who had a friend who knew a guy who could borrow some, so I have no idea if they were working correctly or not. I just know they didn't put out a whole lot of light. Probably some user issues too!

I don't often pull the trigger after dark, but have done a little exploring with artificial light, as well. One of the techniques is called "painting with light", I believe, and involves multiple flashes during a single long, low-ISO/high f-stop exposure, or a single light source "sprayed" over the target area under similar conditions. Some examples have the kind of appearance you might be looking for.

I've done a little of that, too. I've got a pretty tiny arsenal of equipment, though, so it's often improvised or borrowed stuff. I've done some lighting with flashlights in strategic places too-a good LED flashlight kicks out a nice bit of light! I should really go to the dollar store and see if I can get any cheap flashlights, and get ready for spring (it's really too cold out here to be mucking around at night).

The only trouble with the halogen "trade" lighting is the colour temperature is going to be really warm and possibly inconsistent (no Auto White Balance will compensate if you have daylight mixed in). If you're really keen you can hire specific location (works off a battery pack) studio lighting flash kits like Balcar or Profoto, which usually have 2 or 3 heads putting out very good power for what they are. I have used these on a number of location jobs (shooting a Hummer for Jim Beam in QLD was the last one) and they work very well.Color temp is daylight, you can alter the power of each head individually and you know they will be consistent in power and color every flash.Not cheap, but not outrageous in photographic gear pricing.

You are absolutely right, ellrosso, but we were, I thought, talking B&W, so colour temperature is immaterial, and as WDH doesn't use flash on a regular basis professionaly, I was thinking of the cheapest, easiest way of getting more light onto a large 'stage'. Short of several friends turning up with their cars, and there being room to position them so they a) illuminate the required spots and b) are not visible in the final photograph, I don't think my suggestion is out of order. Local tool-hire companies don't charge much, and a couple of evenings experimenting could be fun, if not lucrative. just a thought...

Ah, I came in a bit late, didn't know you were talking about b/w only. Open slather! Torches, tradie halogens, bed sheets, rows of 2nd hand flash guns...
Just a little tip for anyone who's keen re Photoshop - guygowan.com. I went to his seminar in Sydney last year on Photoshop and it was a real eye-opener.
Some fantastic info and his digital reflector is extremely handy for so many applications. He does seminars world wide every year - really worth the money.

I had not heard of 'Painting With Light" until about 2 weeks ago, when I recorded a late-night doco on Television New Zealand entitled "Painting With Light - Brian Brake". When I watched it a day or two later I was amazed at the methods used to build an image piece by piece on a long exposure (using torchlight in an Egyptian tomb in one case). Way, way beyond my levels of competence, but fascinating to watch. And well before the digital age (Brake died in 1988)

I had not heard of 'Painting With Light" until about 2 weeks ago, when I recorded a late-night doco on Television New Zealand entitled "Painting With Light - Brian Brake".

You can do it with torches/floods, you can do it with flash. I did it in a field of oil-seed rape, late evening so there was still a bit of light in the sky, camera on a tripod and open shutter, just fired the flash repeatedly in different directions until I thought it might look interesting! As with all non-digital photography, you don't know what you've got until the film is processed - exciting, almost! There will be failures, there will be luck, but experience helps. I didn't find it exciting enough to do it again, but I liked trying as many techniques as possible. However, I might try it again in digital...

I would be extremely obliged if you could get an expert opinion on the water-resistance of the Nikon F (and the non-AI lenses); I have just acquired some of this kit, which I could never afford when it was current. I would hate to ruin any of these iconic tools. Nikon assure me that my D700 is "weather-proof", I've taken their word for it so far without problems, although I wonder about water getting into the lenses via the radial joints. I gave it a good soaking today but the "F" stayed in the bag.

Just had an e-mail from Dave, my Nikon repairer friend, who's at Bransgore in the New Forest, his advice is not to take your F out in the rain.

The old F1 is not water proof at all! Having said that, the F2 & F3 are not much better, the manufacturing tolerances are are an inprovement but there are no actual seals fitted, so I wouldn't recommend getting them wet - unless you were able to find a good F3P (press) that is intended for for use in extreme conditions of dust, sand and dampness.

I think he does all the film camera repairs for Nikon UK, so he knows what he's talking about, his workshop is an Alladin's cave of old and new Nikons, with the odd Canon thrown in. He has large boxes filled with old cameras and parts, mostly after the last owner fainted after Nikon gave them a quote for some fix or other, and they decided it wasn't worth the expense, and didn't want it back. Sadly they're mostly amateur stuff like F60, F80 etc, I dug around a bit on my last visit, but failed to find any nice F3s.

...unless you were able to find a good F3P (press) that is intended for for use in extreme conditions of dust, sand and dampness.

I have an F3P, but I wouldn't expect any body with a de-mountable pentaprism to be completely waterproof - too many weak points! It has taken a long time for Nikon to add rubber seals to the lens bayonets too, but better late than never, I suppose.

Nikon owners' manuals urge the user to avoid exposing (no pun intended) the body/lens to moisture. For the first time, I plan to shoot at an event in Florida where it has been known to rain...so I just bought what appears to be a pretty well-designed rain cape for my D70S and medium zoom lens. It's the Model E702 by Kata, which incorporates a pair of wrist sleeves. Hope it's not needed!

Just had an e-mail from Dave, my Nikon repairer friend, who's at Bransgore in the New Forest, his advice is not to take your F out in the rain.

The old F1 is not water proof at all! Having said that, the F2 & F3 are not much better, the manufacturing tolerances are are an inprovement but there are no actual seals fitted, so I wouldn't recommend getting them wet - unless you were able to find a good F3P (press) that is intended for for use in extreme conditions of dust, sand and dampness.

I think he does all the film camera repairs for Nikon UK, so he knows what he's talking about, his workshop is an Alladin's cave of old and new Nikons, with the odd Canon thrown in. He has large boxes filled with old cameras and parts, mostly after the last owner fainted after Nikon gave them a quote for some fix or other, and they decided it wasn't worth the expense, and didn't want it back. Sadly they're mostly amateur stuff like F60, F80 etc, I dug around a bit on my last visit, but failed to find any nice F3s.

Rob,Thanks for that. Ironic that the F has no weather seals, yet can stop a bullet:

Mika Haekkinen Spa 1997, in the wet at the entrance of Blanchimont at high speed. My buddy Peter Berger did this shot during the GP Weekend. Is this nostalgia? Well the last year with 200 cm wide cars...

When I started this thread off my idea was to get a discussion going about all things photography (perhaps with some tenuous motor sports connection ;) ) and also to encourage folks to post motor sports photos with some artistic merit or rarity value. There have been some great verbal contributions so far- thanks.

The immediately preceding shot (whilst a little too modern for my personal taste) is a perfect illustration of what I had in mind for the photo side of things. Any fule with an electro-gizmo digi-cam with a big lens can take endless yawn-worthy sharp, bright, magazine-fodder records of racing cars going round and round; injecting a bit of art into it, as demonstrated in Lutz's shot is a different matter.

Here is a "behind the scenes" photo from Le Mans Classic '10; I was asked to try to recapture the mood of the various eras of cars and people at the event.

Look forward to seeing more photographs and reading sage words on photography but... please do not recommend any more books, Mrs T has been giving me grief over the number of Amazon deliveries this week.

The immediately preceding shot (whilst a little too modern for my personal taste) is a perfect illustration of what I had in mind for the photo side of things. Any fule with an electro-gizmo digi-cam with a big lens can take endless yawn-worthy sharp, bright, magazine-fodder records of racing cars going round and round; injecting a bit of art into it, as demonstrated in Lutz's shot is a different matter.

Funnily enough, my older in-action shots (on film, usually with my old Pentax K-1000) were usually sharper than my attempts with my digital SLR. Some of it might be down to my lens-it's a long zoom lens, which is good but sometimes lacks sharpness at full extension (I can't afford a proper telephoto, so please don't tell me to go get one), but I think a lot of it is down to the fact that I generally shot at a high shutter speed so to ensure that the car's in focus. I'm much more likely to shoot at a slow speed. I've discovered that some of my favorites are the ones that aren't pin sharp.

I wrote here a few days ago about my recent hyper-testing of the Nikon D700 in the wet, to the extreme of it not failing when doused by waves. In my extreme tests, it didn't.

To clarify.... my comments were directly aimed at a posted question regarding that user's perceived delicacy of Nikon cameras in the wet.

Prudently.... unless forced to by conditions and/or getting the shot (a risk to be assessed by the shooter), please don't use any electronic equipment unprotected.... Nikonos or similar excepted. A simple umbrella works wonders. In my case, for my future wilderness work, I had to know the D700 was "waterproof" as claimed — and since so few things truly are I needed to know it wouldn't bail on me when 50 miles from the car. So I tested it as such.

As a paid user of Nikon's FM2, F3, F4, and F100 over the years, those cameras are less watertight per the older, or lesser in some cases, model they are (the F100 the "dryest" of the bunch).

Funnily enough, my older in-action shots (on film, usually with my old Pentax K-1000) were usually sharper than my attempts with my digital SLR. Some of it might be down to my lens-it's a long zoom lens, which is good but sometimes lacks sharpness at full extension (I can't afford a proper telephoto, so please don't tell me to go get one), but I think a lot of it is down to the fact that I generally shot at a high shutter speed so to ensure that the car's in focus. I'm much more likely to shoot at a slow speed. I've discovered that some of my favorites are the ones that aren't pin sharp.

I also used a K1000 once, a friend's, for nearly a week at the 1976 Runoffs. Before and after that, until 1980, a Pentax ESII. Minolta in between, then Nikon since 1987.

Agreed.... action-blur can be a beautiful thing. Warning: It can also look like a missed shot. And sometimes committing to an action-blur series means a missed shot, or more.

But in the end, it's beautiful. Not sure your experience, but I think a range of 1/3rd to 1/6th of the lens length results in a "higher keep rate" place to play in. Slower if you're steady and live dangerously. I've been as slow as 1/2 sec. with 500mm, but that's of a lower percentage keep rate. Unreal when it works, though.

I hesitate to contribute to this thread if it has to be arty farty pictures only.

Nowadays of course it is very hard to take anything a bit different from the wrong side of the debris fencing and behind 50 yards of run off but it doesn't deter me and I'm happy with my bright digi yawn worthy snaps as they are a personal record of the event.

For what they're worth here are a couple of mine.

James Hunt at the 1974 British Grand Prix taken on my trusty Zenith E probably at about 1/60th.

VSCC meeting at Cadwell Park 2003. I was still using film with my Canon EOS-1 at that time.I walked the circuit that day to take some pictures of the cars in that lovely setting rather than zooming in for the close up.

The first photographer to register with me was Victor Blackman who had a column in Amateur Photographer which was the first page I turned to each edition.